rot wrote at August 17, 2018 at 6:41 PM
(edited at August 17, 2018 at 6:42 PM)

2.) Communism robbed people of ambition and therefore the drive to work harder. Everyone was required to work. You either worked or went to jail. Sounds fair...even nice until you realize your job is never going to earn you any great luxuries, and it's not like you can become anything you want to be. The lazy bums at your job earned the same amount as you and no matter how badly they slacked off, they knew they weren't going to be fired. You begin to wonder why you're killing yourself when there's nothing special to achieve....unless you kiss the ass of Communist party members and become one of them. They got rich by stealing, through bribes, etc.

same in capitalism

13.) People were being spied on openly. If you spoke up against the government, you were as good as gone. If your neighbor didn't like you, all he had to do is accuse you of expressing your anti-government beliefs. The secret police could show up at your door at any time. If they wanted to audit you, they would do it at their own convenience for whatever reason they wanted

yup

Schools brainwashed kids into believing that Russia was the best country on earth. They would say that people to the west were starving and dying, but of course that was not true in the same way they tried to make it out to be

mmm hmmm

Big housing complexes arose around the country and they literally all looked the same. They were ugly as sin.....plain cement rectangles. People joked that they often walked into the wrong building thinking that's where they lived. These buildings started falling apart and there was no money to fix anything. The lifts inside them were breaking all the time.

I see you've been to the US

Groceries were very hard to come by. People had to stand in line for hours to get a loaf of bread, oranges, bannannas, toilet paper, etc. Oranges were a special treat around Christmas. Jeans were hard to come by and most people were careful to wear them on more special occasions.

Most people had to raise animals and plant their own gardens to supplement their food to survive. Many couldn't afford to buy coal or wood to heat their houses in the winter so they would go steal it by either bribing a wood worker or go chop it at night. Owning dogs was a luxury. Few could afford to feed them not to mention pay taxes for owning them.